


"Ned"ward Leed's Wacky Life

by screamignrodent



Series: "Ned"ward Leed's Wacky Life [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe: peter and michelle survive the snap, F/M, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Acting as Harley Keener's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, ned leeds is insecure, the acadec team - Freeform, the next part will be the field trip hopefully, this is gonna be a series in the same universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:47:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21648532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screamignrodent/pseuds/screamignrodent
Summary: In which MJ and Peter both survived the snap, but Ned was still dusted. For him, everything happened in a span of a minute: he comes back to life, and his best friends are engaged and living with Tony Stark. So, where does Ned fall, when they've had years to grow into themselves?
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: "Ned"ward Leed's Wacky Life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1560688
Comments: 5
Kudos: 236





	"Ned"ward Leed's Wacky Life

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [threads of hope](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21590773) by [peterstank](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterstank/pseuds/peterstank). 



> So sorry that I've been gone for so long, but I'm here and with a completely different fandom. I've always loved marvel but after infinity war I got really into the movies so here I am, finally feeling up to writing a fic. It will be a part of a series, I intend for the next part to be of Ned's Trip(tm)

Five years. It took Tony and Peter five years to figure out time travel. 

And if Tony is credible, they hadn’t even thought of time travel until the fourth year. 

Ned likes to think that the PhD Dr. Stark holds is enough credibility, but then again, Dr. Stark embellishes the truth more often than not. 

So, five years, give or take, is how long it took for a middle-aged inventor and his teenaged not-son to figure out the age old question. Time travel had been studied for  _ years _ , decades, even. Yet these two losers got it right in one try. 

So now Peter Parker is in magazines, talk shows, Ned can’t go anywhere without seeing his best friend’s invention being screamed at him. It’s not a bad thing, if anything it’s  _ super fucking cool _ that Ned Leeds knows  _ Peter Parker _ . And now, after the snap, everyone knows his connection to Spider-man and it’s  _ so  _ cool. 

Because Ned Leeds has Peter Parker and  _ Spider-man’s  _ phone number. Ned Leeds  _ knows  _ Peter Parker, and Peter Parker saved the universe. 

So Ned’s entirely  _ stoked _ to hear about the trip to Stark Industries’ Tower that the academic decathlon team will be taking in, like, a week. 

“Ned, please, sit back down,” Mr. Harrington says, and Ned sits himself back into the chair he was about to leap onto. The dinging that Ned was going to attempt to put a stop to continues. “And Abe, the bell.” The ringing stops when Abe finally relents. 

It’s a miracle the team even  _ has  _ bells with Abe still on it. “Finally, thank you. Now are you ready to hear about where we’re going this Friday?”

The team lets out a unanimous chirp of, “yes”. 

“We are going to…” Mr. Harrington trails off in anticipation, and Abe slams his fist into his bell at top speed. 

“Traitor Joe's,” Abe announces. 

“It’s  _ Trader _ , no, and what have I said about the bell,” Mr. Harrington sighs, his enthusiasm having been drained by the team’s anctics. “We are going to Stark Industries tower.”

There’s a couple of gasps, some  _ oh _ ’s and  _ ah _ ’s, but Flash in particular (because of course whatever God exists would force him and Flash to die and be resurrected together) says, “How’d  _ we  _ score that?”

Mr. Harrington starts, “Well, Midtown is fine, upstanding school and I simply believe that our efforts--” 

“It was Peter, wasn’t it?” Ned hears himself ask before he’s even processed that his mouth moved. Everyone looks at him, their jaws on the floor, as if they’re remembering that Peter and him were,  _ are _ , best friends. 

“I suspect that Mister, ah, Doctor Parker may have influenced our standing with the Starks significantly. However, that does not mean we can lose our professionalism. We must be on our best behavior while we are there,” Harrington passes out the stack of papers that had been resting on his desk. “Please have these signed and returned by next Wednesday, it’s extremely important that we have these to S.I by Thursday.” 

The team chirps, “Yes sir” as they’re dismissed for the weekend, and Ned’s left in a bit of shock from simply, well, everything. So, of course, he calls Spider-man.

“Hey, Ned, what’s up? Is something wrong? Is it a guy-in-the-chair thing? _ ”  _ Peter rapidly asks as soon as he answers his phone. 

“No, it’s not a guy-in-the-chair situation, and also,  _ hey why didn’t you care to tell me that the decathlon team has a field trip next Friday?” _

There’s a pause, and then, “ _ That’s  _ what I forgot to tell you,” There’s some crinkling of papers on the other end, and then a faint call for MJ to pick Morgan up from school. “Sorry, it completely slipped my mind. I’ve been so busy, what with--”

“Hey, man, it’s okay, I get it. I really do,” Ned says, and Peter breathes a sigh of relief. “Are you gonna be on the trip, dude?” Ned asks, trying to sound as chill as possible, but it’s hard. For nearly two months (since August twelvth, not that Ned is keeping track) Peter had been in the Balkans with Nick Fury for reconstruction efforts after the snap. 

Now that he’s back in the states, Ned’s been too busy with  _ highschool _ (god, it sounds so premature. Peter already has two PhD’s and is working on his  _ third _ at twenty-two) to visit him. Of course, it doesn’t help either that he’s been taking care of Morgan while Dr. Stark is recovering from surgery. 

“I mean, probably. I’ll try to be, at least? If that’s okay?”

“It’s great man, I’m excited to see you again.”

“Yeah,” Peter laughs a bit. “It’s been a while. You could come to the tower tonight, though. You could always have a sleepover, like when the three of us were…” He trails off, and Ned knows he was going to say  _ when we were in highschool _ , because Peter and MJ are big kids. They’re adults, and Ned is still exactly as they left him--a tiny teenage boy trying to pass his classes. 

“I would, but I’ve got homework. ‘Sides, MJ probably wouldn’t want me stealing her husband away after you’ve just gotten back.” Ned tries to keep the discomfort out of his voice as he says  _ husband _ , because at least he got to go to the wedding, right? He was even Peter’s best man. But it just reminds him of how much he missed while he was, well, dead. 

“Eh, she’ll live. Good luck with your homework, man, and I might need my guy-in-the-chair tonight for patrol.” 

“‘Course, just give me a ring when you need me.”

“Bye man.” The call drops. 

Flash jams his shoulder into Ned’s side as soon as the line goes dead, “Hey, Leeds, who were you calling?” 

Ned rolls his eyes, turning off his phone and placing it into his pocket. “Peter. Now go away, Flash.”

“Why would he still want to talk to a nobody like you?” Flash sneers, and Ned wants to remind him that when Peter was their age they were best friends, but he holds his tongue. “Move it, nerd.” And Ned complies, because he doesn’t want to deal with Flash for any longer than necessary. 

Peter doesn’t call that night, but he does shoot Ned a quick text. 

_ From: peter  _

_ hey man no spidering tonight. mjs forcing me into a date night pray 4 me _

_ To: peter _

_ All good dude, dw abt it. And will be praying for you, Mj is terrifying.  _

Peter reads it, but he doesn’t respond, so Ned assumes that MJ has simply stolen his phone or something equally MJ-like. 

He has MJ’s number, at least, her old one. He’s not entirely sure if she ever changed phone numbers like Peter did, but he figures it’s worth a shot. 

_ To: scary decathlon leader _

_ Hey Mj it’s ned, just wondering if i could hang out at your guys place on sunday?  _

_ From: scary decathlon leader _

_ sure nerd. were on the 80th floor, friday should bring u straight to our place.  _

Wow, okay, he cannot believe it worked. 

_ To: peter _

_ Am coming by on sunday be prepared we ARE playing with legos  _

_ From: peter _

_ He;ll y e a h  _

_ From peter: _

_!!!!! what time. also morgan might be visiting  _

_ To: peter  _

_ See thats the thing i still dont have my license…. _

_ From: Peter _

_ well pick you up at 12 and go out for lunch be ready loser _

_ From: peter  _

_ that was mj not me i promise  _

Ned races downstairs to tell his mom that he’ll be out with Peter on Sunday. 

  
  
  


Ned has meticulously tied his shoes at least three times. He’s not sure why he’s so nervous, he’s seen Peter since the snap. Actually, he does know. 

It’s because these past months Peter has been leading reconstruction efforts in the Balkans and South Asia, and Ned has been prepping for his SAT and ACT. Peter has been doing work for S.I, got married, and has been a massive influence in the STEM field, and Ned has… gotten a solid 3.6 GPA? 

The car horn knocks him out of his own head, and he races to the window to see one of Tony Stark’s Audis outside his apartment. Peter is in shotgun, a huge grin stretched across his face and MJ is diriving. 

It looks like Ned will be in the back with Morgan. 

Ned is wrong, actually. Turns out, when he leaves his front door that MJ has had enough driving and moves into the backseat next to Morgan. Peter slides into the driver’s seat and motions for Ned to get into the passenger side. 

“You sure you don’t want front, MJ?” Ned asks, but she shakes her head. 

“Nah, Morgan wanted me back here,” and that drops the conversation. 

The drive is relatively quiet, Peter and MJ occasionally ask Morgan questions which she answers back with surprising accuracy.

MJ even asks her what a group of crows is called, and she answers “ _ murder _ ” as happy as a clam, and Ned nearly had a heartattack because he was not aware of that. 

Around the ten minute mark, the silence is easing up and MJ and Peter are recounting what happened during the snap, when Morgan pipes up, “What food do you want?”

Peter warningly says, “Morguna…” but the six-year old pushes on. 

“If you say you want food, Petey will let me get food too.”

It’s only then that Ned catches on that Morgan is talking to him. “Oh, well, um, I’m not really picky.”

Morgan breaks out into a toothy grin, “Me neither. But I  _ really  _ like burgers.” 

Peter sighs, “If we get burgers, we have to get your dad one.” And Morgan nods solemnly, like he just said an age-old truth. “Alright, alright, FRIDAY?”

“Yes, boss?” The Irish A.I pipes up. 

“Could you call Tony?” 

The car rings a couple of times, before there’s a  _ click _ , and Tony fucking Stark’s voice rings out, “Sup, how’s my kid?” As Peter begins to pull into a McDonalds. 

“She’s fine, what do you want from Mickey-D’s?”

Dr. Stark is silent for a beat, and then says, “Get me two quarter-pounders.” 

“Alrightie, old man. Pep want anything?” Peter asks, and Dr. Stark hums. 

“Get her a coffee with cream. And put it on my card, okay, kid?” 

“‘Course, peace out, pops.” And the line drops. “MJ, you want anything?” And MJ gives him a dirty look through the rearview mirror. “Right, okay. Ned, do you want anything?”

“Just a ten peice.” Ned says, reaching for his wallet, but FRIDAY stops him. 

“Mr. Leeds, Boss has told me to tell you that you will not be handling the price of a simple ten piece. His words, of course.”

Ned slowly puts the wallet back in his pocket. 

Peter and MJ’s floor of the tower is interesting, to say the least. Inventions and tools are haphazardly strewn about. There’s some law textbooks on the kitchen table, next to some sealed letters. The room to their bedroom is open, and their bed is a mess. The TV is running on Nickelodeon with the volume at  _ max _ , and there’s a  _ four-hundred pound weight  _ in the middle of the living room. 

There’s a blanket on the couch, where someone around Peter’s age is lounging on their phone. He looks up when they walk in, and immediately asks if Peter got him food.

“Of course I did. Harley, meet Ned Leeds. Ned, meet Harley Keener.” 

Harley holds out his hand, and Ned shakes it. “Tony Stark broke into my garage.” 

“My best friend saved the universe?” Ned responds, hesitantly. 

MJ separates the two of them immediately. “Oh, no you don’t. We don’t need Peter getting any sort of ego boost. The fact that Mr. Harrington has to call him  _ Doctor Parker  _ is enough.” 

“Buzzkill,” Harley takes his order of food out of the McDonald’s bags, and sulks off to a room adjacent to the couple’s room. 

“Ignore Harley,” Peter says. 

“He’s disappointed he isn’t the chosen heir,” MJ responds cryptically, earning a look from Peter. “Okay, whatever. I have to get to class. I’ll take Pep and Tony their food,” Her and Peter share a kiss, and Ned has to remind himself  _ they’re adults this is an adult thing, adults kiss in front of other adults and it’s not weird _ . “Love you, nerd.”

“Love you, too,” Peter chirps happily. 

MJ gives him a nod, “Nice to see you again, Ned.” 

“You too, MJ.” 

MJ grabs a water bottle, the textbooks off the table, and a bag from the closet and heads out.

“Sorry about MJ, she can be a bit, uh,” Peter pauses. 

“Insensitive?” Ned offers. 

“I was going to say unsocial, but I don’t know if that’s a word,” He grabs his food from the McDonalds bag. “Take a seat, FRIDAY will play up any movie or show you want, too.” 

“ _ Awesome _ ,” Ned breathes out, and Peter laughs. 

“FRIDAY,” Peter calls, “Get Morguna for me? She still hasn’t finished her homework, and I refuse to have her teacher call me while I’m in a lecture again.” 

“Right away, boss.”

Morgan comes trotting in not a second later, “You called for me?” She says, sweetly. 

“Oh yes, I did. Finish your school work before you get another parent-teacher conference. It was bad enough for Ms. McConnel to deal with your dad, she doesn’t need Pepper on her tail too,” Peter gives her a stern no-bullshit look, and she hangs her head. 

“ _ Fine _ ,” She sits herself at the dining room table to write on a crumpled sheet of paper. 

Peter and Ned both take seats on the couch in front of the TV. “You and MJ are really good with Morgan,” Ned starts off tentatively. Almost too good, as if they’ll have children. Ned doesn’t quite like that idea. He reminds himself that Morgan and Peter are like siblings, that their relationship is far from a father-daughter dynamic, but he can’t help but remember that any moment MJ could announce that she’s pregnant or that they have a secret child or that--

“You really think?” Peter looks excited. “This is a huge secret, Ned. MJ gave me the go to tell you but you  _ must  _ keep it a secret. She’s only letting me tell you because you’re my best friend,” Ned tries to not let it show how happy he is to be reminded that they’re still as close as ever. “Um, well, MJ is kind of, um, pregnant? She’s pregnant.” 

Ned’s heart, to say the least, kind of shatters. “Oh?”

Peter looks sheepish, “It’s just that I don’t exactly have the best track record with father figures.”

“Oh.”

“I’m afraid I won’t be…” He takes a breath, “I’m kind of terrified I won’t be a good father.” Ned blinks. That wasn’t what he was expecting at all. “I know it’s stupid, but I didn’t really ever know my father, he died when I was like, six. My memories of him consist of him being at work all the time and I tried so hard to impress him but he was never there to really see it. And despite what anyone has ever said, I still blame myself for…” Ned is able to fill in the name when Peter falls into silence. “And watching Tony be such a great dad with Morgan and Harley and, hell even me, it makes me worry that it’ll be just another thing I disappoint him on.”

“Peter,” Ned speaks, finally, “Peter. You’re going to be a great father. You could  _ never  _ disappoint Tony. And you are never at fault, and never will be at fault for what happened that night.” 

Peter looks far off, for a second. “I go to therapy, now.”   
Ned tries not to be taken aback, “That’s good. Therapy, um, therapy is good.” 

Peter nods. “It’s hard, sometimes, dude. I’ve seen a lot of bad stuff,” Peter wipes a stray tear away from his eye. “What if, whoever this kid might be, I can’t protect them from the bad stuff? What if they have to grow up like I did?”

Ned doesn’t even know where to go from here. Before the snap, Peter had touched briefly on how hard his life was, but never in depth. Never like this. “I-I guess you just try, ya’know? And if it fails, you, um, try again. Or something.” 

Morgan comes trotting in, “Petey, you were crying.” She climbs onto the cushion in between the two boys. “Do you want me to get daddy?”

Peter smiles, “No, Morgan, I was just telling Ned about how awesome you are.”

She nods, wisely. “That  _ can  _ make people cry,” she agrees, but Ned can tell she doesn’t buy the lie for a second. Thankfully, she doesn’t press the issue any further. “Can we watch the one science man?” 

Peter’s eyebrows meet, “What?”

“The science guy, you know.”

Ned starts to laugh, “Bill Nye? You mean Bill Nye?”   
Peter’s face dawns into one of realization. “Yes, Morgana, we can watch Bill Nye. FRIDAY?”

The A.I pipes up, “Already on it boss.” 

And, okay, maybe everything changed overnight. Maybe Ned’s life will never be the same again. But he still has Peter, and MJ, and he’s gonna get a mix of the two of them which is pretty damn cool. In a way it’s kind of like he’s an… “Hey, Pete?”   
“Hm?”

“Does this mean I’m going to be an uncle?”

Peter shoves a pillow at his face. 

Yeah, okay, maybe life can be okay. 


End file.
